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Business & Society
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To What Extent Is Business and Society Literature Idealistic?

Nikolay A. Dentchev

Ghent University

The purpose of this article is to investigate to what extent is business and society literature idealistic as it advocates the adoption of high moral norms for business performance. The author discusses the central theses of mainstream themes in this literature—corporate social responsibility, corporate social responsiveness, social issues, corporate social performance, stakeholder management, corporate citizenship, business ethics, sustainable development, and corporate sustainability—and evaluates their descriptive accuracy, normative validity, and instrumental power. Poor description of reality, underdeveloped business logic, and questionable prescriptions are indicative of the idealism of these themes. This study reveals many realistic and achievable propositions, which dilute the concern that business and society literature is idealistic. However, three elements in the field—its (rhetorical) criticism of corporate conduct, the predominantly normative notions of its concepts, and its underdeveloped instrumental ideas—underline its idealistic orientation.

Key Words: business and society • corporate social responsibility • corporate social performance • idealism • theory building

This version was published on March 1, 2009

Business & Society, Vol. 48, No. 1, 10-38 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0007650307299222
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